Top-10 Finish for Labonte in Texas

Bobby Labonte

Bobby Labonte earned his second top-10 finish since taking the wheel of the No. 77 Dollar General stores Chevrolet, finishing ninth in Saturday’s O’Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway. After starting 28th, Labonte spent much of the race working his way through the field. He cracked the top-15 less than 60 laps into the race and was into the top-10 by halfway. His previous top-10 came at Kansas Speedway in late September.

On Friday, the Dollar General stores machine posted the fifth fastest time on the speed charts in the first practice session and followed that up with a 16th fastest time to round out final practice. The teams would line up for a late qualifying session on Friday evening. The No. 77 Dollar General stores car went out to qualify 28th for the start of the race on Saturday.

Labonte and the Dollar General stores crew debriefed in the hauler following qualifying and they were confident with the car in race trim for the start of the 200 lap event. At the drop of the green flag, Labonte was moving forward and picked off two positions in the first lap. 20 laps into the event, Labonte had already broken into the top-20. Labonte reported that the car was loose on entry and tight-handling exiting the corner, but was still running comparable times to the leaders.

On lap 30, Labonte drove down pit road for minor adjustments during a yellow flag condition for debris on the track. The Dollar General stores crew went over the wall with four tires, fuel and to adjust the air pressure and the track bar. By the next caution flag on lap 64, Labonte was running inside the top-15 and reported the car was a little tighter, it took a while to get worked in but the car wasn’t bad. Once again the No. 77 Dollar General stores Monte Carlo SS came down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.

Monitoring the speed chart, Labonte was well within the top-five fastest cars on the track, and the No. 77 Dollar General stores car was moving forward. The Dollar General stores car endured a long 70 lap green flag run with a round of pit stops. Labonte was running seventh when he brought the No. 77 car down pit road for the final pit stop. Reporting a tight-handling condition behind traffic, the Dollar General stores crew went to work changing four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.

As the pit sequence cycled through, Labonte found himself within striking distance of the top-10. As the laps wore down, Labonte continued to pick up the pace and run lap times as fast as the leader. Labonte crossed the stripe at Texas Motor Speedway in the ninth position. The No. 77 Dollar General stores Chevrolet moved up one position in the NASCAR Busch Series owner points to 23rd.

The Busch Series teams are down to the final two events of the season, heading into the back-to-back weekends of Phoenix, Ariz., and Homestead-Miami, Fla. The Arizona.Travel 200 can be seen live Saturday, November 11 on TNT at 3:40 p.m. ET.